International Journal of General Medicine最新文献

{"title":"The Predictive Value of PKC and ET-1 Levels in Cerebrospinal Fluid for Vasospasm and Prognosis in Patients with Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.","authors":"Hailong Li, Donghua Li, Mi Li, Zehong Hu","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S468549","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S468549","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To analyze the predictive value of protein kinase C (PKC) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) in cerebrospinal fluid for vasospasm and prognosis in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (ASH).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>One hundred and forty-eight ASH patients hospitalized in our hospital during February 2019 to February 2022 were optioned as observation subjects. These subjects were graded into good prognosis group (mRS score 0-2, n = 102) and poor prognosis group (mRS score 3-6, n = 46) according to the Rankin Revised Scale Score (mRS) after 6 months of follow-up. Cerebrospinal fluid was collected from patients to detect the content of ET-1 and PKC. The prognostic factors were analyzed using multifactorial logistic regression. The predictive value was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The patients with poor prognosis had a higher age level and a higher proportion of ≥2 aneurysms, aneurysm diameter ≥6 mm, cerebral vasospasm, and Hunt-Hess grade ≥III than those with good prognosis (<i>P</i> < 0.05). The patients with poor prognosis had higher content of PKC and ET-1 than those with good prognosis (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Age, aneurysm diameter ≥6 mm, cerebral vasospasm, Hunt-Hess classification ≥grade III, PKC and ET-1 were all risk factors related to the prognosis of ASH (<i>P</i> < 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of PKC and ET-1 for diagnosing poor prognosis of ASH was 0.803 and 0.720, respectively. The AUC of the combined detection was 0.873 (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Patients with cerebrovascular spasm had higher content of PKC and ET-1 than those without (<i>P</i> < 0.05). The AUC of PKC and ET-1 for diagnosing cerebral vasospasm in ASH was 0.891 and 0.816, respectively, which was 0.932 for combined detection (<i>P</i> < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The combination of PKC and ET-1 in cerebrospinal fluid had certain value in predicting the poor prognosis of patients with ASH.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11439365/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pretreatment System Inflammation Response Index (SIRI) is a Valuable Marker for Evaluating the Efficacy of Neoadjuvant Therapy in Breast Cancer Patients.","authors":"Yunuo Zhang, Jingna Wu, Weiming Chen, Xinhong Liang","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S478000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S478000","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Immune inflammatory response are involved in the development and progression of cancer. However, there are still inconsistent research results on the value of peripheral blood inflammatory indicators for evaluating the efficacy of neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between pretreatment systemic immune inflammatory response index (SII), systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and NAT efficacy in breast cancer.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A retrospective analysis was performed on 326 patients with breast cancer who underwent NAT at Meizhou People's Hospital from November 2017 to October 2023. Clinicopathological data was collected, including gender, age, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, diabetes mellitus, family history of cancer, TNM stage, and the molecular subtypes of breast cancer. The optimal cutoff values of SII, SIRI, NLR, PLR, and LMR were calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the relationship between inflammatory indexes and other clinicopathological features and the efficacy of NAT was analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In this study, 162 (49.7%) breast cancer patients did not respond to NAT and 164 (50.3%) patients responded to NAT. The levels of SII (<i>p</i>=0.002), SIRI (<i>p</i><0.001), and NLR (<i>p</i>=0.006) in patients who responded to NAT were significantly higher than those in patients who did not. When the efficacy of NAT was considered as the endpoint of SII, SIRI, and NLR, the critical value of the SII, SIRI, and NLR was 572.53 (under the ROC curve (AUC)=0.598), 0.745 (AUC=0.630), and 2.325 (AUC=0.588), respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that a high SIRI level (≥0.745/<0.745, OR: 2.447, 95% CI: 1.375-4.357, <i>p</i>=0.002) was an independent factor associated with the efficacy of NAT in breast cancer patients.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>High SIRI levels (≥0.745) may be an independent factor associated with the efficacy of NAT in patients with breast cancer.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11439349/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Importance of H-FABP in Early Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction.","authors":"Andreea Licuta Pavel, Nilima Rajpal Kundnani, Stelian I Morariu, Anca Tudor, Dana Emilia Man, Daniel Marius Duda-Seiman, Dana Emilia Velimirovici, Mihaela Daniela Valcovici, Pop Calin, Simona Ruxanda Dragan","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S476736","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S476736","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Over the years, troponins have aced the para-clinical tests for confirming the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. However, the rise in their levels is entirely time-dependent, which can cause a delay in the initiation of treatment protocols. Heart fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) can serve comparatively as a better biological marker for overcoming this flaw of troponins, as it is quickly released into the bloodstream once the myocardial injury occurs due to decreased blood supply. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of this marker as well as establish the specificity and sensitivity of testing the H-FABP, if it adds to early diagnosis and can be relied upon in the future.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>We evaluated 83 patients and their H-FABP levels, along with the standard cardiac markers like hsTni and CK-MB, in patients presenting with symptoms indicating an ongoing coronary event, who had presented to our hospital between August 2020 and June 2021. The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 comprised patients who had first medical contact within 4 hours of the onset of chest pain, and group 2 patients who had first medical contact after 4 hours of the appearance of symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using MedCalc v20.023, considering statistical significance values of p <0.05. Results for targeted variables are presented using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, range, median, and associated interquartile range) for continuous data, and counts with associated percentages for categorical data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>H-FABP was found to have better sensitivity and specificity of 89.67 and 95.65 in group 1 patients and 86.73 and 49.84, respectively, in group 2 patients. The other two cardiac biomarkers evaluated had lower values in response to H-FABP in the first 4 hours of presentation. Results for group 2 showed that specificitivity for hsTni is higher than that of H-FABP, that is, 69.98.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Heart fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) should be included in the protocol for biochemical evaluation of all patients presenting to the emergency services with a suspicion of possible myocardial infarction. Early detection of this protein can help in effective and timely management of myocardial infarction, thus further decreasing mortality rates and the financial burden on healthcare systems worldwide.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11438469/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of Intestinal Flora in Osteoporosis Patients Based on 16S rDNA Sequencing.","authors":"Mengyue Sun, Yuanyuan Liu, Shan Tang, Yiming Li, Ridong Zhang, Li Mao","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S468654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S468654","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study investigated differences in gut flora between osteoporosis (OP) patients and healthy individuals using 16S rDNA sequencing. The correlation between differential flora abundance and bone mineral density (BMD) was analyzed, and key flora and potential mechanisms associated with OP were explored.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Forty-three OP patients and twenty-four healthy volunteers were recruited. Gender, age, height, weight, and BMD data were collected. DNA from fecal samples was extracted for 16S rDNA sequencing. The Kruskal-Wallis test assessed differences in gut flora composition, while LEfSe analysis identified significant flora. Spearman correlation analysis examined the relationship between differential flora and BMD, and PICRUSt predicted pathways involved in OP.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Significant differences in microbial composition were found between the two groups. Klebsiella, Escherichia-Shigella, and Akkermansia were biomarkers in OP patients, with Faecalibacterium in the healthy group. Akkermansia abundance negatively correlated with lumbar BMD, while Klebsiella and Escherichia-Shigella negatively correlated with femoral neck and hip BMD. Faecalibacterium showed a positive correlation with BMD. Functional predictions indicated differences in metabolism-related pathways between the groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Gut flora differed significantly between OP patients and healthy individuals. Akkermansia, Klebsiella, and Escherichia-Shigella could serve as diagnostic biomarkers for OP, highlighting the potential of gut flora in OP diagnosis and treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11430314/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142336404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clinical Effect of Norepinephrine Combined with Esmolol Treatment in Patients with Septic Shock and Its Impact on Prognosis.","authors":"Mengjiao Song, Qiang Su, Lei Zhang","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S477593","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S477593","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To unveil the influence of norepinephrine (NE) combined with esmolol treatment on cardiac function, hemodynamics, inflammatory factor levels, and prognosis in patients with septic shock.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Ninety-six patients with septic shock admitted to our hospital from January 2021 to June 2023 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into the control and observation groups according to the different treatment methods. The control group was treated with standard anti-infection and fluid resuscitation, followed by NE administration [with an infusion rate of 0.1-0.5 μg/(kg-min)]. The observation group was treated with esmolol [starting pumping rate of 50 μg/(kg-min) and adjusting the pumping rate according to the target heart rate] in combination with the control group. Changes in hemodynamic parameters, including heart rate, mean arterial pressure, central venous pressure, cardiac index, stroke volume index, and systemic vascular resistance index, were monitored by pulse-indicating continuous cardiac output monitors before treatment (T0), 24h after treatment (T1), and 72h after treatment (T2); changes in cardiac function before and after 72h of treatment, indicators of inflammatory factors before and after treatment, and indicators of oxygenation metabolism were assessed; and adverse drug reactions during treatment were recorded in both groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>NE combined with esmolol treatment improved the efficacy of patients with septic shock; was beneficial for the enhancement of blood perfusion in patients; improved the patient's cardiac function, reduced myocardial injury, and suppressed the inflammatory response in patients; improved the oxygenation metabolism and the prognosis of patients; did not significantly increase the adverse drug reactions of patients and had a better safety profile.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>NE combined with esmolol treatment can improve the efficacy of patients with septic shock, improve their cardiac function and hemodynamic indices, reduce myocardial injury and inflammatory response, and have a better safety profile, which is conducive to improving patient prognosis and reducing mortality.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11430355/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Glycemic Variability in Pancreatogenic Diabetes Mellitus: characteristics, Risks, Potential Mechanisms, and Treatment Possibilities.","authors":"Yuyan Sun, Bing Lu, Yuanwen Hu, Yingqi Lv, Shao Zhong","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S477497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S477497","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In recent years, pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus has garnered significant attention due to its high incidence, complications, and mortality rates. Glycemic variability (GV) can increase the risk of pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus and its associated complications; however, the precise mechanism remains unclear. The effective control of GV is crucial for preventing the onset of pancreatic diabetes mellitus and improving prognosis. Both diet and antidiabetic medications have substantial effects on GV. However, many patients are prescribed suboptimal or even harmful drugs. Therefore, to provide a comprehensive treatment basis for clinicians to prevent and treat pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus, this study aimed to elucidate the relationship between GV and pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus; investigate the potential mechanisms (such as oxidative stress, inflammatory response, insulin resistance, and lipid metabolism disorders); provide lifestyle guidance; and recommend drug selections to reduce the GV in patients with pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11423834/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Radioactive Iodine-131 Therapy Reduced the Risk of MACEs and All-Cause Mortality in Elderly with Hyperthyroidism Combined with Type 2 Diabetes.","authors":"Yanli Guo, Dinggui Huang, Jingxia Sun, Zhenwei Zhai, Hewei Xiao, Weiguang Hao, Qiu Wang, Jianhao Huang, Miaomiao Jin, Wensheng Lu","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S484910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S484910","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study aimed to assess the efficacy of antithyroid drugs (ATDs) and radioactive iodine-131 (RAI) therapies in reducing the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) and all-cause mortality in patients with hyperthyroidism complicated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Between January 2013 and December 2021, 540 subjects were included in the analysis. All participants were followed up for 9 years, with a median of 54 months (2451 person-years). The subjects were categorized into two groups: the ATDs group (n = 414) and the RAI group (n = 126). According to the free triiodothyronine (FT3) tertiles, the patients receiving RAI were further grouped as follows: low-level (≤ 4.70 pmol/L, n = 42), moderate-level (4.70-12.98 pmol/L, n = 42), and high-level (≥ 12.98 pmol/L, n = 42). The efficacy of ATDs and RAI therapies in reducing the risk of MACEs and all-cause mortality was assessed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 540 participants, 163 experienced MACEs (30.19%), 25 (15.34%) of whom died. Multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that RAI was associated with a 38.5% lower risk of MACEs (P = 0.016) and a 77.1% lower risk of all-cause mortality (P = 0.046). Stratified analyses indicated that RAI had a protective effect on MACEs in patients aged ≥ 60 years (P = 0.001, P for interaction = 0.031) and patients with a duration of diabetes mellitus ≥ 6 years (P = 0.013, P for interaction = 0.002). Kaplan‒Meier analysis revealed a lower cumulative incidence of MACEs and all-cause mortality in the RAI group (log-rank, all P < 0.05). Moreover, the ROC curve suggested an optimal FT3 cut-off value of 5.4 pmol/mL for MACE (P < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our findings suggested that RAI therapy effectively reduced the risk of MACEs and all-cause mortality in elderly patients with hyperthyroidism combined with T2DM.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11423839/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Combined CT-Based Radiomics and Clinic-Radiological Characteristics for Preoperative Differentiation of Solitary-Type Invasive Mucinous and Non-Mucinous Lung Adenocarcinoma.","authors":"Rong Hong, Xiaoxia Ping, Yuanying Liu, Feiwen Feng, Su Hu, Chunhong Hu","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S479978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S479978","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The clinical, pathological, gene expression, and prognosis of invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma (IMA) differ from those of invasive non-mucinous adenocarcinoma (INMA), but it is not easy to distinguish these two. This study aims to explore the value of combining CT-based radiomics features with clinic-radiological characteristics for preoperative diagnosis of solitary-type IMA and to establish an optimal diagnostic model.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this retrospective study, a total of 220 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to a training cohort (n = 154; 73 IMA and 81 INMA) and a testing cohort (n = 66; 31 IMA and 35 INMA). Radiomics features and clinic-radiological characteristics were extracted from plain CT images. The radiomics models for predicting solitary-type IMA were developed by three classifiers: linear discriminant analysis (LDA), logistic regression-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LR-LASSO), and support vector machine (SVM). The combined model was constructed by integrating radiomics and clinic-radiological features with the best performing classifier. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate models' performance, and the area under the curve (AUC) were compared by the DeLong test. Decision curve analysis (DCA) was conducted to assess the clinical utility.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Regarding CT characteristics, tumor lung interface, and pleural retraction were the independent risk factors of solitary-type IMA. The radiomics model using the SVM classifier outperformed the other two classifiers in the testing cohort, with an AUC of 0.776 (95% CI: 0.664-0.888). The combined model incorporating radiomics features and clinic-radiological factors was the optimal model, with AUCs of 0.843 (95% CI: 0.781-0.906) and 0.836 (95% CI: 0.732-0.940) in the training and testing cohorts, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The combined model showed good ability in predicting solitary-type IMA and can provide a non-invasive and efficient approach to clinical decision-making.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11423830/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rate of Breastfeeding Initiation and Continuation in Patients with Epilepsy: Study from a Tertiary Care Center in Makkah.","authors":"Amal M Alkhotani","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S471977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S471977","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of this study was to assess the rate of breastfeeding initiation and continuation among women with epilepsy treated in a tertiary care center in the Makkah region.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>All women with epilepsy treated in the epilepsy clinic at King Abdullah Medical City from 2019 to June 2023 were interviewed by phone. Data collected included patients' demographics, type and control of epilepsy, number of antiseizure medications (ASMs), and obstetric history.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Forty-eight patients were included in the study. A total of 32 (66.7%) were more than 30 years old, and 41 (85.4%) were from urban areas. A total of 22 (45.8%) received only one antiepileptic drug, 18 (37.5%) received two drugs, and 8 (16.7%) received three or more drugs. The majority (68.6%) of patients practiced breastfeeding. Breastfeeding lasted 6 months or longer for 12.1% of mothers. Bottle feeding was needed for 72.9% of patients. Breastfeeding was reported by significantly more patients (73.2%) from urban areas versus 42.9% of those from rural areas (P = 0.043). Also, 81.8% of patients on one ASM practiced breastfeeding, compared to 62.5% on more than two ASMs (P = 0.048). Other significant factors related to breastfeeding were not having a seizure during pregnancy (81.8%-57.7%, P = 0.049) and a normal vaginal delivery (81.3%-43.8%, P = 0.008).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The rate of breastfeeding among women with epilepsy in the Makkah region is low. Several factors, including the number of ASMs, seizure control during pregnancy, spontaneous vaginal delivery, and being from an urban area, were significantly related to breastfeeding behavior among these women.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11421439/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prospective Study on the Association Between Blood Heavy Metal Levels and Pulmonary Function in University Students from a Medical College in Shandong Province, China.","authors":"Chengshuai Zhang, Juan Xu, Tingting Dong, Xin Gai, Hongmei Zhang, Yuanyuan Li","doi":"10.2147/IJGM.S477243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S477243","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>This study aimed to examine the blood concentrations of selected heavy metals, their corresponding pulmonary functions, and their interrelationship with university students.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This prospective study, conducted from September 2019 to September 2020, encompassed 593 university students. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires regarding demographic factors and underwent lung function testing and blood mercury analysis at two distinct intervals: an initial assessment and a follow-up examination. Pulmonary function was assessed using Forced Vital Capacity, Forced Expiratory Volume in one second, and Peak Expiratory Flow. The blood concentrations of various heavy metals were determined through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Notable disparities in pulmonary function emerged among university students when categorized by gender, Body Mass Index, physical activity, and seafood consumption frequency, all showing statistical significance (<i>p</i><0.05). Blood levels of Pb, Mn, Co, and Ni exhibited diverse patterns and extents of correlation with pulmonary function (<i>p</i><0.05 in each instance). Specifically, a positive correlation was observed with blood Pb levels, while Mn, Co, and Ni levels were inversely correlated with pulmonary function (<i>p</i><0.01 for both observations).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study uncovered significant and complex relationships between the blood concentrations of individual heavy metals and pulmonary function in university students. These findings highlight the need for further research to elucidate these associations in greater detail.</p>","PeriodicalId":14131,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of General Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11421449/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142346266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}